


The Price of Competitiveness

by Bickymonster



Series: The Laughing Potion Series [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Potions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 02:46:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4770599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bickymonster/pseuds/Bickymonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco just wants to be the best, but there are unforeseen consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Price of Competitiveness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [StarLight_Massacre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarLight_Massacre/gifts).
  * Translation into Italiano available: [Il prezzo della competizione](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5316896) by [Bickymonster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bickymonster/pseuds/Bickymonster), [firefly93](https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefly93/pseuds/firefly93)



> Well this was a rather unexpected little one-shot, inspired by a picture of Tom Felton that Starlight Massacre and I were having a laugh about. I hope that you enjoy it.
> 
> (Unbeta-ed, so feel free to point out errors)

"Argh!" Draco exclaimed in frustration, slamming his fist down on the desk next to the cauldron, making it wobble slightly on its stand. "What in Merlin's name am I doing wrong?" he asked himself as he peered down into the botched potion mixture with a confused frown on his face. He coughed,  waving his hand in front of his face to clear away the waft of fumes that came up at him.

He had been alone in the potions classroom for the last three and a half hours, and had just failed to make a laughing potion for the fourth time. On the surface the instructions didn't seem all that complicated, and he had followed them to the letter but, by the time that he got to the point of adding the pufferskin hair, the potion had always gone a far darker colour than it should have.

"Stupid Snape and his stupid potions," Draco said huffily, though he was rather startled when a giggle bubbled up passed his lips. He smothered it quickly with an awkward cough, focusing again. Draco was just trying to make his father proud, be the best but Snape kept setting difficult assignments and, somehow, Granger seemed to be the only one up to the task.

He turned to check the textbook again but in doing so somehow managed to get his feet tangled around each other, and the next thing he knew he was tumbling downwards. He grabbed out to catch himself but just found the seat of a stool, bringing it down on top of himself as his arse collided painfully with the stone floor. He was so stunned that he just sat there for a moment, blinking in surprise.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed in a delayed reaction, before bursting out laughing at himself and his own stupidity; he was exceedingly glad that no one had been around to see that. He let himself fall backwards until he was lying on the floor of the potions classroom, a stupid grin on his face that just didn't seem to want to go away.

It was obvious to him at that point that he needed to call it a night, given that he had missed dinner, still didn't actually know what it was that he was doing wrong and was apparently overly tired. He would start again the next day after some serious research, and hopefully figured out where it was all going wrong. Right now though he was obviously tired or something because he was feeling quite out of sorts.

He was still a Malfoy though, and as such couldn’t be caught lying on the ground, so he hefted himself up off the floor before anyone else could happen upon him. He picked up his wand from next to the cauldron and waved it; however, rather than cleaning the cauldron and surrounding area as he had expected, it simply filled the air around him with rather spectacular multi-coloured sparks that made high-pitched squealing sounds.

“Whoops,” Draco said, laughing again and actually enjoying the miniature fireworks display he had accidentally created. He had learned how to cast several cleaning spells wordlessly in the last year or so, and had never had anything like that result before.

He was rather surprised to note the lack of his usual irritation at the failed spell but he couldn’t bring himself to even be bothered by that; clearly he really did need to get back to the common room and have an early night.

Focusing carefully on the cauldron this time, and taking care to follow the wand movement precisely, Draco cast the cleaning spell again, saying “Scourgify,” out loud this time. He grinned a little manically at the perfectly clean cauldron and focused hard as he repeated the process on the area where he had been working.

He laughed loudly in earnest as he stared at the table. It was now cleaner than he had ever seen any part of the dungeon room; it was almost glistening, and seemed to have been purged of several decades’, if not centuries', worth of dirt, grime and potions residue.

“Maybe I over did it,” he said to himself, as he happily gathered up the few bottles and jars of ingredients he had been using and all but skipped his way over to the store cupboard to put them away. After all, Snape was unlikely to keep overlooking Draco’s use of the potions classroom if he came back to find that it had been left in a mess.

He was still in an inexplicably good mood when he was done putting his belongings back into his bag, throwing it over his shoulder and wandering out of the classroom. There were a few students wandering through the corridors and a group of third year Hufflepuffs looked quite disturbed by the smile he gave them, as they all hung close to the wall and rushed off the moment they were passed him.

“Well that was rude,” he muttered indignantly, holding his head high and huffing slightly as he continued on his way towards the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Sure, he knew that had a reputation that was respected by most of the school but that didn’t mean that other students should cower away from a simple smile. He knew for a fact he had a delightful smile.

By the time he had entered the common room, Draco had decided that it was clearly their issue; those third years were obviously just being cautious and were rightfully fearful of him, as an older and much wiser student. They were Hufflepuffs after all and there was simply no understanding such people.

“Draco…” Pansy said a little hesitantly as he sauntered across the room. Draco was heading straight for the dormitories, not wanting to let any one of his housemates spoil his good mood, but now he paused, turning to look at her.

“Pansy,” he replied, looking at her expectantly, finding the baffled and rather alarmed look on her face most entertaining.

“Were you… whistling?” she asked, sounding quite genuinely concerned.

Draco opened his mouth to respond, but quickly snapped it shut again a second later when he thought back. He realised that he actually had been; it hadn’t been something that he had been consciously doing, he hadn't even noticed, but he definitely had been.

“I was,” he said confidently, smiling at her, daring her to criticise him. He was certainly enjoying the disbelieving reaction it was getting from his housemate.

“And… you’re smiling,” Pansy added, as Crabbe and Goyle both came over to see what was going on. “What in Merlin’s name happened to you?” she demanded to know, grabbing hold of both of Draco’s arms and leaning close to examine his face.

“Nothing!” Draco insisted, pulling free of her hold and taking a step back from her. “And I really did not need to see your puggish face that close up,” he told her dismissively, actually giggling at the shocked and indignant look she gave him for that comment.

"How dare...?!" she started to protest, however, Draco simply raised a single finger and pressed it to her lips, silencing her before she could finish her sentence.

"Hush," he insisted, with a teasing smirk. “Now, be gone boulder people,” he added as he turned to look at Crabbe and Goyle, his finger still pressed to Pansy's lips as he laughed at his own joke, waving his two large housemates away with his free hand.

“Us?” Goyle asked, sharing a confused look with Crabbe, never having been called such a thing before now and then looking back at Draco again. He looked even more baffled when he realised that the blond was giggling madly now.

"Salazar, Draco, what the hell did you take?!" Pansy exclaimed loudly,  finally regaining enough of herself to bat Draco's hand away from her face. Her carrying voice drew the attention of even more of the students in the common room, but this just seemed to make Draco laugh even more.

"Nothing, Pans! Didn't take anything," he insisted with a grin, patting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm fine. I'm better than fine even," he added shrugging dramatically with his whole arms as he strode passed her.

He laughed a little at himself as his unsteady footing nearly sent him tumbling to the floor. He just manage to keep himself upright long enough to tumble over one end of a sofa near the fireplace, leaving him sprawled over it on his back, his head resting against someone's thigh. He couldn't see who though, as the person's face was hidden behind the book they had been reading.

Slowly the book was moved off to one side, revealing the frowning face of Blaise Zabini. "Draco," his housemate said slowly, "what are you doing?"

"Blaise!" Draco responded jovially, with a broad smile on his face. "Fancy meeting you here. You are a very comfy pillow," the blond said, his nose scrunching up in thought as he shuffled his shoulders around a little to make himself more comfortable.

"And you are very pointy," Blaise informed him drily, wincing as Draco's bony shoulders dug into his leg. "Ow, Draco!" he protested when the blond continued to shuffle about trying to get comfortable.

"Gah, fine," Draco grumbled half-heartedly, giggling as he sat up only to quickly climb into, a very stunned, Blaise's lap properly. He smiled dopily at Blaise, their faces only inches apart. "You are much more attractive then Pansy this close up," the blond told him softly, pressing a kiss to the tip of Blaise's nose before grinning at him.

"...Thank you..." Blaise said, raising one eyebrow in bemusement. "What are you doing?" he questioned as Draco cuddled up against his chest, grey eyes drifting shut. "Are you planning to just stay there?" he asked when Draco's breathing started to even out, as though he was falling to sleep.

"Mhmm," Draco hummed, nodding his head in confirmation, inhaling deeply and revelling the masculine scent that was purely Blaise. "Sleepy now," he informed his housemate, a dreamy smile on his face as he drifted off to sleep.

-#-

As Draco slowly regained consciousness, the first thing he was aware of was that he was comfortable and warm, though reluctant to open his eyes discover whose arms were wrapped around him, whose chest his head was resting against. His memories of the evening before were hazy and confused, and he scrunched up his face as he tried to remember what had happened.

The familiar drawl of Snape broke the silence. "Welcome back, Mr Malfoy," he said, and Draco forced his eyes open and found that the professor was sitting in an armchair a few feet away from him. Snape was definitely looking mildly amused and so Draco scowled, knowing that didn't mean anything good.

"What do you remember, Draco?" Blaise asked, and Draco looked up, as he realised whose lap it was that he was sitting.  Blaise was watching him closely with an expression of genuine concern that Draco had never seen on his housemate's face before.

"I..." Draco started to say, but paused as he tried to think back and work out how he had ended up there. However, all he could think about was that he was in Blaise's arms, and so coughing awkwardly, he shuffled himself out of Blaise's hold and onto his own two feet.

Draco took a moment to look around the room, which he didn't recognise but suspected was Snape's private quarters, particularly given the shelves upon shelves of clearly old books. He was, though, very aware that he was still being watched and so quickly took a seat on the sofa next to where Blaise was sat, his arms wrapped around his own waist.

"I presume you were attempting to brew the laughing potion," Snape said after a few moments of silence. It was what they had been studying in class a few days earlier and would be making in class the following week.

Draco nodded his head confidently; he definitely remembered being in the potions classroom brewing that. He remembered trying to brew it several times, now that he thought about it, and it going wrong each time, and the fumes coming off it... "Oh," he said slowly, realising his mistake far too late. "The fumes."

It wasn't a question, but Snape nodded his head once in confirmation regardless, and Blaise was apparently unable to hold back his chuckle of amusement. Draco groaned and buried his head in his hands; he was definitely starting to remember now. He remembered how he couldn't stop giggling and smiling, the Hufflepuffs he had creeped out, and the way he had spoken to Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle.

Draco lifted his head to look at Blaise. He now remembered exactly how he had come to be asleep on Blaise's lap, though Draco was a little baffled why his housemate hadn't just dumped him onto the floor or something; though he was grateful for it, given how easily he bruised.

"You really didn't want to let go of me," Blaise told him smugly as though reading Draco's thoughts and Draco felt a flush colour his cheeks again. He had made such a fool of himself and he was quite convinced that he was going to come up with some excellent bribery material to keep his housemate from taunting him with this for the rest of eternity.

"I might have tried to brew it a few too many times," Draco admitted begrudgingly. He still blamed Granger for that; if she wasn't such a know-it-all then he wouldn't have had to try so hard. He just wanted to be the best! What was really grating on his nerves, though, was that he _still_ didn't know what had been going wrong.

 "It is unwise to brew the Laughing Potion more than twice in a row," Snape informed him in a disapproving tone, unmoving from where he was sat in the armchair, watching the two Slytherin students across from him.

"I think I worked that out for myself," Draco told him. "I just really wanted to get it right." He hesitated, not really wanting to admit his failure in front of Blaise, but knowing that Snape was his best hope of an answer.

"I presume you found it went too dark soon after you giggled at it," Snape said with a knowing expression, and Draco had to make a serious effort to keep from gaping at the man. That was just before adding the pufferskin hair, and it was exactly what had been happening to his potions. "Any suggestions, Mr Zabini?" the potions master asked.

Blaise hummed in thought, as he mulled it over for a few moments, before a small smile formed on his lips. "Lack of emotion," he stated, looking to Snape for confirmation.

"Precisely," the potions master said, nodding his head once in approval. "Five points to Slytherin," he added with a hint of pride. "Your giggle lacked true emotion, Mr Malfoy," Snape clarified.

"Oh," Draco said, feeling as though he really should have been able to figure that out for himself. He was now keen to get a chance to try again, once he had worked out how he was going to giggle sincerely.

"At least your housemates should be capable of brewing it now," Snape commented, looking as amused as Draco had ever seen him, "just so long as they can recall the memory of your earlier behaviour."

Draco scowled at him. He was already feeling ashamed for having so strongly affected by the potion's fumes and making such a fool of himself, and he really didn't need the potions master rubbing salt in the wound.

"Just look at our housemate's like that, and I am sure no one will be stupid enough to mention it," Blaise told Draco confidently. "And I'll protect you from anyone idiotic enough to do it," he added, giving the blond an exaggerated wink.

"Well..." Snape said firmly, before Draco could respond, "seeing as you are clearly back to yourself, I shall give the two of you a moment to speak privately, while I inform Madam Pomfrey about your recovery," the potions master told them rather smugly as he stood, smirking at the pair of them before turning and sweeping from the room.

"So..." Blaise said, turning to face Draco once the two of them were alone, the corner of his mouth curving up into a knowing smirk, "I'm comfortable?" he asked teasingly.

Draco felt his face heat up as he blushed, remembering all the things he had said the night before when the Laughing Potion fumes had sapped his inhibitions. "Apparently," the blond said, as haughtily as he could manage, crossing his arms over his chest, and sticking his nose in the air.

Blaise looked exceedingly pleased with that confirmation, as though the fact that Draco had spent the majority of the night sleeping in his arms hadn't been proof enough. "And more attractive than Pansy?" Blaise added, after a few seconds.

"Definitely!" Draco blurted out before he could stop himself, feeling himself blush even more than before once he registered what he had said. Blaise, however, just chuckled deeply, leaning closer to the blond.

"Then I guess we do have something to talk about," he said with a grin, before capturing Draco's lips with his own, cutting off whatever words had been about to slip off the blond's vicious tongue and swallowing the delicious moan that replaced them.

As surprised as Draco was by the action, he was certainly not complaining and let Blaise pull him closer, deepening the kiss. This definitely was a wonderful price to pay for his competitiveness.


End file.
